Nintendo Launches Switch With Nod to the Past, but Investors Want Something New

Nintendo (NTDOY) executives paid homage to past successes in an elaborate unveiling of Switch Friday in Tokyo, proudly emphasizing the many strands of the company's "DNA" found within the new $300 game console.

The only problem is, investors weren't waiting for a history lesson. They wanted something new, and hammered the company's stock when they didn't get it.

Nintendo shares plunged nearly 6% to end the session at a two-month low of ¥23,750 each just hours after the gala presentation at the Tokyo International Exhibition Center, known as the 'Big Sight'.

The Nintendo Switch will be initially released on March 3 this year in Japan, the US, Canada, some European countries, Australia, and Hong Kong, among other places, according to President Tatsumi Kimishima, who first took to the stage in Tokyo.

The Switch will cost ¥29,980 ($261) for Japan and $299.99 in the U.S., while British gamers will expect to shell out £279.99 ($342) for the much-anticipated console.

The follow-up to Nintendo's DS and Wii offerings, which has been under development since 2015, has also been hotly awaited by investors, after the company said it would halt the domestic production of the Wii U on the back of disappointing sales.

"The Nintendo Switch inherits and packs in all the entertainment DNA at Nintendo," said Shinya Takahashi, director, and general manager of the entertainment planning & development division. Takahashi, also a managing executive officer, said that the new console reflects all of the features in the past Nintendo games, from the two controllers of the Family Computer released in 1983, the portability of Gameboy sold in 1989, to the analog stick of Nintendo 64 launched in 1996, and the motion control of the Wii released in 2006.

Investor reaction, however, might have more to do with the company's adherence to its 127 year legacy and that perhaps it is no exception in being bound by a cultural tradition of seniority that seeps deeply into corporate practices as it struggles to come up with ground-breaking ideas.

Some of that may have been lost 18 months ago with the untimely passing of the company's iconic leader, Satoshi Iwata, at the age of 55. The former president played a major role in rolling out the DS and Wii and was well-known for his passion for the game: "My name card tells you I'm a president, but I am a game developer in my mind and a gamer in my heart"," he once said.

Or it may be that the current developers are paying too much respect to him and failing to move forward.

The reality now, however, is for Nintendo to arrest a seven-year stretch of declining sales and get past the new criticism that its products are too expensive - an accusation that dogged its release of its smartphone-based Super Mario Run last month.

Although some media outlets blamed Switch's price as the reason for investor disappointment, few players complained about the value of the game on Twitter - a sharp contrast to the swarm of attacks users made on the social media website over the $9.99 fee Super Mario Run in-game charge.

Maybe Switch's portability (it can be played connected to a TV or elsewhere), adaptability (players can enjoy games with up to eight others online and buy software anywhere in the world) and functionality (the battery will last up to 6.5 hours and can be re-charged whilst in use) will offset any lingering price concerns.

But history can be a burden, and old game consoles don't age gracefully.